College debt is getting unreal

In just over half an hour, President Barack Obama laid out aspects of his plan to make higher education more affordable while speaking to 3,000 students at the University of Michigan Jan. 27.

For those perseverant enough to get tickets, the wait was worth it.

“I didn’t think I’d get a chance to do this again,” said U-M mechanical engineering student Kyle Taylor, who stood 10 hours in line overnight outside the Student Union for tickets to see the president speak.

Deleise Cole Wilson, a recent college graduate, had the same mindset.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime for me,” she said.

She said she wanted to hear Obama’s plan for dealing with student debt, but just to get the chance to see the president, whom she voted for in the 2008 election and plans to do so again in the upcoming election, was enough.

“He could sing, he could talk, he could do whatever,” she said. “He has a free pass with me.”

Before the speech, Sen.Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, stressed the importance of higher education and the need for a federal plan to address its rising costs.

“We can’t have students coming out of college owing more on their tuition debt than if they bought a house,” she said. “We’ve got to continue to focus on bringing down the cost of college.”